Diamond egg pendants are a versatile gift as the egg is a symbol of life, rebirth and love. It can therefore be given as a token of love or to mark the birth of a child.
There are many fables and traditions about eggs: in Europe eggs were hung on trees every New Year and on Maypoles on May Day to symbolise and encourage the regenerative forces of nature. Early Christians believed that eggs laid on Good Friday should be kept for a hundred years when their yolks turn to diamond. Eggs cooked on Good Friday would promote the fertility of the trees and crops and protect against sudden deaths. If you would find two yolks in an egg it means you are about to come into money. As you can see from the small selection above, your diamond egg pendant has all sorts of myths attached to it.
The most famous egg jewellery and ornaments were designed by Faberge as an Imperial collection for the Russian Tsar Alexander III to give to his beloved wife, Tsarina Maria. It all began in 1884 when he designed an Easter egg which reminded the empress so much of her homeland that Alexander commissioned an egg containing a secret surprise every year. This went on for eleven years until he died when it was continued by his son, Nicholas II.
The designs for the Imperial eggs were based on imitations of historical works that Faberge came across during his travels. But many of the eggs depict important periods in Russian history with ones to commemorate the coronation of Czar Nicholas II and the completion of the Trans Siberian Railway. There were eggs illustrating the Imperial yacht Standard, the Uspensky Cathedral, Gatchina Palace and Red Cross and military during the Great War.
It is believed that fifty six Imperial eggs were made with only forty four being located and another two of which there is photographic evidence. Another twelve Easter eggs were commissioned by a Siberian gold miner called Alexander Ferdinandovich Kelch, but the collection commissioned by the last of the Russian Czars is the most celebrated
